TechIPm, a consulting company specializing in patents, reported on Feb. 10 that LG Electronics’ patent applications related to LTE were the largest, accounting for 23% of the total candidates for potential LTE standard essential patents (SEPs) registered at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the European Patent Office (EPO) as of January 31. Samsung made up 18% of the total, which placed the company in second place.
Although the consulting firm did not reveal the exact number of their patent applications, LG’s number is estimated at 66 with Samsung at 52, given that 288 patents were reportedly registered in total.
LG also nabbed the top spot in the Jefferies & Co.’s patent value rankings in 2011 and TechIPm’s LTE & LTE-A SEPs rankings in 2012 and 2013. Samsung occupied the runner-up position in TechIPm’s LTE-A SEPs rankings in 2013.
Qualcomm was in the third spot, representing 9% of the total candidates for potential LTE SEPs, followed by NSN (9%), Motorola (8%), and Ericsson (6%). Apple, on the other hand, merely comprised 2%.